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☆ How ‘Days of Wine and Roses’ Became Their Passion Project
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Melena Ryzik | More About Melena Ryzik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As origin stories go, the transformation of “Days of Wine and Roses” from a movie into a musical is a straight shot, with a twist. They talked through their coordinating vision for evolving “Wine and Roses,” the midcentury classic of a romance ruined by addiction. She already had a co-star in mind: Brian d’Arcy James, debonair and wry, like Jack Lemmon was in the 1962 movie, opposite the O’Hara look-alike Lee Remick. The film memorably traced the stuttery arc of alcoholism and recovery, a trajectory now familiar — onscreen and off — but rarely put to song. The production takes pains to show the love that propels their characters’ relationship — however misguided it turns out to be.

Persons: Kelli O’Hara, Adam Guettel, Tony, ” Guettel, ’ ” O’Hara, Brian d’Arcy James, debonair, Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Guettel, Craig Lucas, O’Hara, James, gorgeously Organizations: Broadway, ” Locations: Piazza

☆ Music Executive L.A. Reid Is Accused of Sexual Assault in Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Melena Ryzik | More About Melena Ryzik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Grammy-winning music executive Antonio Reid, who is known as L.A. and rose in the industry working with artists including Usher and TLC, has been accused of sexual assault and harassment in a lawsuit by Drew Dixon, who worked for Mr. Reid at Arista Records. The suit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday, says that Mr. Reid, who was Ms. Dixon’s boss starting in mid-2000, assaulted her twice. She left the company in 2002, and though she made forays into the industry again, she never fully recovered her promising trajectory as a music tastemaker. Stepping back from a music career “was devastating,” Ms. Dixon, who facilitated the recording of a platinum soundtrack and several hit singles, said in an interview. And that’s really what I’m trying to do.”Mr. Reid did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Wednesday.

Persons: Antonio Reid, Usher, Drew Dixon, Reid, Mr, Dixon’s, John Legend, “, Ms, Dixon, Reid’s, Joel Katz Organizations: Mr, Arista Records, Court, HarperCollins Locations: Manhattan

☆ Death, Disability: It’s All Fair Game for the Comic Daniel Sloss
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Melena Ryzik | More About Melena Ryzik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I think it was my fourth Fringe show when I decided to do darker jokes, stuff that wouldn’t make it on television. That was never fun, but I was fine with it because I’m like, I stand behind everything I’m saying now. I think there’s something about being vulnerable to people — it’s honesty, and I think they see goodness in that. How am I going to make people laugh with the death of a 6-year-old disabled girl? Looking back, there were plenty of signs, which we chose to ignore, because we put it down to banter, like, “Hey, he’s just saying things that we all say.”

Persons: Jim Jefferies, it’s, he’s

☆ ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ and Scorsese’s Bride Like No Other
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Melena Ryzik | More About Melena Ryzik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Led by Scorsese, the filmmakers aimed to be scrupulously authentic in the ways they depicted the Osage, down to the threads in their clothing. “Few people in the world could afford that, but they documented their lives and their travel and where they lived so beautifully. By the early 20th century, the Osage were as au courant as Vogue editors. The wedding scene in “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a showstopper, with Mollie Kyle, the bride played by Gladstone, and her bridesmaid sisters in richly embroidered skirts, finger-woven belts and bespoke military coats, complete with brass buttons and braided epaulets. The look is topped off by towering 18-inch hats decorated with French ribbon and festooned with feathers dyed cyan or magenta.

Persons: Scorsese, Jacqueline West, Daniel C, ”, “, ” Swan, Mollie Kyle Organizations: University of Oklahoma, courant, Vogue, Gladstone Locations: New York

☆ Arts Executive to Lead Pioneer Works
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Melena Ryzik | More About Melena Ryzik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mara Manus, a former executive director for the New York State Council on the Arts, will become the chief executive officer at Pioneer Works, the nonprofit cultural center in Brooklyn, its board of directors announced on Tuesday. Manus, who will start in October, replaces the executive director Maxine Dalio, who left at the end of last year, and the interim chief Jill Eisenhard. She will work closely with the artist Dustin Yellin, the founder of Pioneer Works; Gabriel Florenz, its founding artistic director; and the astrophysicist Dr. Janna Levin, the chief science officer. The appointment marks a pivotal moment for Pioneer Works, which is housed in a former iron works factory in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Lately its ambition has grown; in a major capital project, it now plans to open a publicly accessible roof deck observatory — a rarity in New York City.

Persons: Mara Manus, Maxine Dalio, Jill Eisenhard, Dustin Yellin, Gabriel Florenz, Janna Levin Organizations: New York State Council, Arts, Pioneer Works Locations: Brooklyn, Manus, New York City

☆ First Look: ‘The Color Purple’ Finds New Hues in Film Adaptation of Stage Musical
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Melena Ryzik | More About Melena Ryzik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“She’s always had such a regal reverence and a curiosity about dance from all over the world,” he said. Her hip-hop and R&B pedigree is evident in neck swivels and shoulder shimmies that connect TikTok dances to their 20th-century lineage. Some of the songs were sped up to match her moves, Sanders said. He also wrote songs for the movie, including a beat-driven work anthem for Harpo, Mister’s son (Corey Hawkins). During Bazawule’s presentation — via video during the height of covid — “I literally texted Oprah,” Sanders recalled.

Persons: Bazawule’s, Fatima Robinson, Michael Jackson, Mary J, Blige, ” Bazawule, Aaliyah, “ She’s, ”, Sanders, Bazawule, “ It’s, Ricky Dillard, Keb, ’, Christian McBride, Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, Stephen Bray, Harpo, Mister’s, Corey Hawkins, “, ” Sanders, ‘ Locations: Accra

☆ ‘Bottoms’ and the Tricky Tone of a Horror-Indie-Drama-Action-Teen-Sex Comedy
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Melena Ryzik | More About Melena Ryzik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

We finished “Bottoms,” and “The Bear” came out a month later and her world changed. The way queer teen characters are always so innocent in teen movies. “Bottoms” builds on a lot of the teen movie canon, starting with “Heathers.” What else did you use as a reference? We pulled from that era of the ’90s — I guess “Heathers” is the ’80s — but that kind of female, campy, driven, high school and murder [comedy]. That movie strikes such a beautiful tone of campiness while caring deeply about the characters — it’s right on the edge.

Persons: Ayo, Rachel, ” It’s, she’s, It’s, ” She’s, ”, they’re, “, There’s, Liz

☆ Justin Simien on Releasing ‘Haunted Mansion’ in the Midst of a Strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Melena Ryzik | More About Melena Ryzik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

My mother took me to Disney World when I was a kid, and it was the first thing we rode. I remember being sophisticated enough to understand that it was a trick — that I wasn’t really being followed around by a hitchhiking ghost. It felt to me that there was a physicality and a realness to this world, even though it was fantastical. New Orleans [where the ride and movie are set] is a Black city. It just wasn’t a movie I was interested in making any other way.

Organizations: Disney Locations: Orleans, Black

☆ Satchmo’s Wonderful World: Louis Armstrong Center Amplifies An Artist’s Vision
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Melena Ryzik | More About Melena Ryzik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And yet for decades, the Louis Armstrong House Museum has been a well-kept secret on a quiet street in Corona. The longtime residence of the famed jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader, it is a midcentury interior design treasure hidden behind a modest brick exterior. The museum’s new extension, the 14,000 square foot Louis Armstrong Center, blends in a little less. It looks, in fact, a bit like a 1960s spaceship landed in the middle of a residential block. “The house is relatively small,” said Regina Bain, executive director of the House Museum and Center, speaking of the two-story dwelling where Armstrong lived with his wife, Lucille, from 1943 until his death in 1971.

Persons: Louis, Louis Armstrong, ”, Regina Bain, Armstrong, Lucille Organizations: Louis Armstrong House Museum, Louis Armstrong Center, Queens, House Museum and Center, Jazz, Lincoln Center Locations: Queens, Corona ., Armstrong, “

☆ For Filipino Audiences, ‘Here Lies Love’ Offers Emotional Rip Currents
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Melena Ryzik | More About Melena Ryzik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For him, even after so many years with the show, the addition of Filipino producers was deeply meaningful. “It made me feel safe,” he said, “knowing that the Filipinos were in charge, that we could just do our jobs” as artists. Like Salonga, he has played a variety of ethnicities, just about none of them Filipino. “I feel like I owe all of those ethnicities an apology — like, I’m sorry I got cast,” Salonga said. “I want to see other communities of color be able to look at ‘Here Lies Love’ and go, ‘We can do that.

Persons: Aquino, “, Ferdinand, ”, “ kuya, Salonga, ” Salonga Organizations: Broadway

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